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Diana Budds

Senior Editor at Dwell

A Bay Area native, Diana studied art history and environmental policy at UC Davis. Before coming to Dwell—where she works on product coverage, features, and more—Diana worked in the Architecture and Design departments at MoMA and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She counts finishing a 5K as one of her greatest accomplishments, gets excited about any travel involving trains, and her favorite magazine section is Rewind.

The most populous of New York City's boroughs, and the second largest in area, Brooklyn has no shortage of inventive residential designs. And we're not just talking about the garden-variety exposed brick, subway tile, Edison bulb special.

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San Francisco has its fair share of third-wave coffee so we jumped at the chance to visit one of the East Bay's newest offerings. On a pleasantly sleepy stretch of Solano Avenue, Berkeley-based Local 123 opened a cafe within Flowerland nursery. From a charming 1969 Airstream Streamline Princess trailer, proprietor Frieda Hoffman and her business partner Alex Ebel churn out lattes, macchiatos, single-drip cups of coffee, and more. And the setting—a verdant nursery—couldn't be more right. Hoffman's "perma-popup" is opposite of what we've come to expect from the many cafes that seem to be victims of their success. Instead of chaotic snaking lines of undercaffeinated denizens jonesin' for their morning fix, we were treated to a peaceful garden setting, and gladly traded the drone of indie rock for the chirp of birds. Local 123's menu features coffee from Four Barrel, vegan donuts from Pepples, and pastries from Starter Bakery. Have a look inside the cafe in our slideshow.

The 300,000-square-foot show floor at this year's Coverings (held April 17–20th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida) was filled with many stunning designs, but an offshoot in an annex at the nearby Peabody Hotel proved to be a cache of creativity. There, a handful of artisans from Virginia-based New Ravenna Mosaics exhibited wares ranging from the midcentury-inspired to the distinctly Moroccan influenced. Click through the slideshow for a look at the designs.

Artisanal tile company Fireclay was at Coverings for the first time this year and exhibited their brand of glass and ceramic tile that's a treat to look at and boasts some mighty strong environmental creds. The company, based in San Jose, California, was founded in 1986 and churns out thousands of pieces of tile, which is all made in the United States. They launched a couple new lines, Crush (a tile made from 100% recycled glass) and the Runway Collection by Austin-based designer Kelly LaPlante, along with some tried and tested favorites.

This past weekend, the American Craft Council—one of the country's oldest organizations championing handicrafts—celebrated its 70th birthday at its annual show at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Just over one month ago, I was roaming through the floors of the Festival Pavilion for the Renegade Craft Fair, which I can only describe as the rebellious, punky, and often cheeky little sister of the Craft Council show. Aside from the fact that most everything was handmade, the comparisons between the two exhibitions really stop there. Most of the wares at Renegade were of the crocheted, embroidered, or screenprinted persuasion; at the Craft council show there were ample blown glass pieces, ceramics, and rich woods that were carved and lovingly stained or oiled—essentially, everything reflected much more mature sensibility. What I appreciated most about the Council show was the level of workmanship in the designs on view. Most of the 230 exhibitors seemed to have decades of experience in their crafts and that was imbued in each object. Here, I share a few of my favorites.

This past Sunday, I hopped aboard the 43 to check out the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason. I come from a familly that sews, builds, crochets, embroiders, prints, and throws (as in pottery), but I've never really had the knack for crafts aside from the mandatory paper mache projects of my youth. As such, I was completely in awe of all the well thought out wares on display. Most things were of the screenprinted and knitted persuasion, with a handful of knick knacks tossed into the mix. Accompanying me was our products editor Jordan, who'll be posting her picks soon (lovers of crafty jewlery, keep your eyes out!). But first off, here are 12 of my favorites from the show.

Greetings from Peru! I'm in Lima reporting from the showroom floors of the National Gift Show and Peru Moda, a fashion tradeshow, taking place April 27th to 30th. An estimated 5,000 people come to the Gift Show, now in its 13th year, to spy the handcrafted wares from the Andean highlands to the coastal cities and everywhere in between. The designs at the Gift Show were 100% Peruvian made down to the cotton fibers in the textiles, the alpaca wool woven into rugs, the woods carved into ornaments and trinkets, and the natural dyes that saturate everything with bright hues. In this slideshow, have a look at some of the objects that caught my eye. Most were traditional handicrafts—quite wonderful and a real treat to see—though my favorites were the contemprary upcycled designs of Nuna Lab and Geldres Design.

I'm hard pressed to think of another city in the United States that's as oriented toward the furniture industry as High Point, North Carolina. From manufacturing to selling, furniture is the heart and soul of the city and region as a whole. And with 10 million square feet of showroom space, it's no wonder why. The High Point Market, which occurs twice yearly in the spring and fall, attracts and estimated 80,000 attendees. What was very interesting to me (a first-time visitor to the area) was High Point's architecture and urban fabric. The downtown area was nearly all showrooms, each with their own unique character. In my previous slideshow, I looked at the furniture on display during the Spring 2011 Market. Here, have a look at the buildings the furniture was displayed in and some of the other structural points of note.

April 2nd to the 7th marked the spring High Point Market, a tradeshow that takes place in the heart of American furniture country. One of the oldest furniture fairs in the United States, the Market traces its roots back to 1909 when it was called the "Southern Furniture Expo." Twice a year in April and October, an estimated 80,000 people convene to get the scoop on some of the newest and soon-to-be-released interior design wares. The Market slants to the traditional and "transitional," but the contemporary held its ground (though it took some sifting for me to find). In the following slideshow, have a look at what was brought to Market by a handful of the 2,000+ exhibitors, make a pit stop at the world's largest chest of drawers, and take in the color du jour (hint: it was NOT Pantone's Honeysuckle).

Civic leaders in Oakland, California, have been battling hard for decades to make the city as socially and economically healthy as possible. One of their recent endeavors is Tassafaronga Village, Northern California's first LEED Gold certified neighborhood development, which goes to show that in terms of green architecture, there is a "there" in Oakland.